Hypertext Webster Gateway: "Wistful"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Wistful \Wist"ful\, a. [For wishful; perhaps influenced by
wistly, which is probably corrupted from OE. wisly certainly
(from Icel. viss certain, akin to E. wit). See {Wish}.]
1. Longing; wishful; desirous.
Lifting up one of my sashes, I cast many a wistful,
melancholy look towards the sea. --Swift.
2. Full of thought; eagerly attentive; meditative; musing;
pensive; contemplative.
That he who there at such an hour hath been, Will
wistful linger on that hallowed spot. --Byron.
-- {Wist"ful*ly}, adv. -- {Wist"ful*ness}, n.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
wistful
adj 1: full of longing or unfulfilled desire; "those wistful little
ads that the lovelorn place in the classifieds" [syn:
{yearning}]
2: showing pensive sadness; "the sensitive and wistful response
of a poet to the gentler phases of beauty" [syn: {pensive}]
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